


The (Not Quite So) Empty Planet

by Abboz



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005), Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: All The Ships, Alternate Universe, Canon Rewrite, F/F, F/M, Gen, The Empty Planet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:20:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25279906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abboz/pseuds/Abboz
Summary: When Rani and Clyde wake up one morning to find their parents, and the rest of the world, have disappeared, their instincts lead them to seek out each other and then the cause of the phenomenon. But what if the robots weren’t just abiding by the Judoon’s grounding? What if taking a single trip in the TARDIS was enough to protect them? And what if they weren’t the only ones?
Relationships: Adric & Nyssa of Traken, Adric/Nyssa of Traken, Ben Jackson/Polly Wright, Clyde Langer & Sarah Jane Smith, Ian Chesterton/Barbara Wright, Jamie McCrimmon/Victoria Waterfield, Jo Grant/Cliff Jones, Martha Jones/Mickey Smith, Melanie Bush/Ace McShane, Rani Chandra & Clyde Langer, Rani Chandra & Sarah Jane Smith, Rani Chandra/Clyde Langer, Sarah Jane Smith/Harry Sullivan
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

Sarah Jane stood beside Rani, both staring at Mr. Smith’s screen. “Mr Smith, maximum scan.”

“Locator sweep in operation, Sarah Jane.”

Together they stood waiting for a result until they heard the door open. It was Clyde, a tray of mugs in his hands. “Tea’s up. What’s going on?” He put the tray down on the table in front of the sofa.

Rani uncrossed her arms, keeping her eyes on the screen. “Mr Smith just picked up an alien energy trace, just for a second and then it vanished.”

“Somewhere in all of that.” The elder woman pointed to the waveforms showing on the Xylok’s screen.

He picked up one of the mugs. “And what is all of that?” He stepped down to their level and walked across to them.

Sarah Jane continued to watch the screen. “Transmissions from radio, TV, satellite, that’s every signal, every energy source on the planet. It’s the sound of the Earth.”

They stood in silence for a moment, just listening to the mess of signals the Xylok was playing to them. Clyde tilted his head up slightly. “Bit noisy aren’t we?” Rani smiled.

“I’m afraid I can’t locate the energy trace, Sarah Jane.”

Rani took a split second to think. “Okay, then what kind of alien energy is it?”

“I regret I do not have that information, Rani.”

Sarah Jane shifted her gaze downwards and back up. “Leave it to me, you’ve got school tomorrow morning, go home and get some sleep.” She looked back at them for a second.

“I’ve just made teas!”

Sarah Jane turned to walk round them. “Well good, ‘cause this could be a late one.” She walked across to the door. “Come on.” She tapped the wood. “Hop it.”

Rani was still watching the screen. “What if it’s an invasion?”

Heading across the room, Clyde put his mug down with the others. “So the world gets blown to smoky bits, and we weren’t there to stop it because it was a school night.”

The journalist resisted a smile. “Go on, home. If I need to I’ll shout, don’t you worry.” She directed them out, shutting the door behind them and turned back to the supercomputer. “Scanning for that energy trace, Mr. Smith, let me know the moment you locate the source.” She turned away in frustration but found it impossible to ignore the noise of the scan and swiftly spun back. “I hate not knowing.”

* * *

Rani walked out of her living room, holding a CD up for Clyde. “Here you go.” She shoved it at him and he caught it against his chest, holding it there and smiling at her. “I want it back in one piece though, I know what you’re like.”

He looked down at the plastic case then back up to her, smile still on his face. “Night then.”

She leant against the wall. “Oh, um, we’ve gotta finish Great Expectations by tomorrow.”

“I might start it.”

“Start it?!” Her eyes widened slightly. “It’s 500 pages.”

“Yeah, I can skim it, any book you read the back cover, page seventy three and the last chapter, pretty much get the gist.”

“Oh, very good, enough to get you a string of Ds.” His expression dropped a little. “Brilliant plan.” He stood motionless, just looking at her until she flicked her gaze towards the door. “See you at school then.”

“Will if we don’t get invaded.” He opened the door and looked up at the sky. “Come and have a go then if you think you’re hard enough.”

Rani rolled her eyes and he turned his head to look at her, chuckling under his breath as she pushed him out the door. “Night.” She smiled, shut the door and walked upstairs.

* * *

Rani sat back in her bed, duvet tucked up round her middle as she made her way through _Great Expectations_. There was a knock at the door and she looked up. “Come in!” Haresh opened her door and stuck his head into the room. “Hi, Dad.”

“Hi.”

“What do you want?”

“Just to catch up.” He stepped inside, smiling. “I haven’t seen you at all today.”

“Well here I am.” He walked across to the end of her bed. “Oh I’m really quite enjoying this actually.” She lifted her book slightly.

“I read that book when I was your age.”

“What for school or just because you wanted to?”

“Both.” He perched on the edge of the bed. “I really loved school.”

“Yeah, so much you never left.” She smiled with a slight laugh, glancing down at her book then watching as he continued to gaze at her. “I really have got to get to the end by tonight.”

“Oh, am I being chucked out?”

“Yeah.”

Haresh stood and leant closer to her. “N’ night.” He kissed her forehead.

“Night.”

He headed for the door, giving a little wave before he left. “Bookworm.” She smiled, watching as he shut the door, and returned to her book.

* * *

Clyde sat working at his desk top drawing board, adding a few touches to his latest piece before he went to bed. There was a knock at the door. “Yep?”

His mum pushed the door open and walked in. “Early night for me, nothing on telly, I wanna sleep.” She walked over to the bed, picking up the copy of _Great Expectations_ lying there. “Ain’t you gotta read this?”

He looked back at her. “Ah I’ve done it, some bloke gets mucked around by women, big deal.”

Carla put the book down. “Oh well let’s have a look.” She walked across to him and peered over his shoulder. He was working on a picture of a Shansheeth that looked like it could be part of a black and white comic book. “Oh that’s good. Where’d you get your imagination from? Not from me, certainly not from your dad.”

He stopped and gazed at his picture. “I just like drawing. You know Mrs Pitman reckons I could be a comic strip artist.”

“Oh go for it. You know I used to worry that you’d turn out like your dad, full of chat but drifting.”

He looked up at her. “Aww thanks, Mum.”

“No, I’m just saying.” She touched his hair as if ruffling it. “I had you wrong, I’m sorry. There’s a lot more to you than there ever was in him… or me.”

“Don’t put yourself down. And don’t get soppy, please.”

“Ah, my son’s a genius, I’m allowed to be soppy.” She kissed the top of his head and started to leave. “Night.”

“Night.”

As she closed door behind her, Clyde turned in his seat to face away from his desk. “A genius, yeah I like it, that’ll do.”

* * *

Lying in bed reading in the dim light, Rani grew tired, her eyes drifting shut. She closed her book and placed it on the floor, squinting as she checked her phone, then put it back down on the bedside table and switched both her lights off.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As it's an alternate universe, I have all the tagged ships/companions around on Earth at the time of The Empty Planet in some form or another.  
> In Jamie's case I've gone for him and Victoria getting a post-War Games reunion, much like my fic Familiarity: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7192445.

Early the next morning, Mrs Chesterton watched in adoration as her husband followed his little morning ritual of letting the sunlight in to bathe their bed in warmth. Except this time, he hadn’t climbed straight back in beside her. Something he saw had unsettled him, stopping him in his tracks.

“Oh, Ian, stop it. Do you honestly think I’m gonna fall for that?” Barbara tried to resist a smile.

He shook his head at her. “I’m not joking! Listen to me, I’m being serious, you’d know if I was joking, I’m not that good at lying to you.”

“And I’m supposed to believe you when you say that the street’s abandoned out there, that all the people that were there just a minute ago have disappeared?”

“Oh, come here.” He walked across to her and grabbed her hands to pull her to her feet. “Come and look for yourself.” Placing his hands on her waist, he dragged her across to the window.

She couldn’t help laughing, squirming a little until they reached the window and her expression dropped. “You weren’t kidding.”

“I did tell you I wasn’t.”

She twisted to look up at him. “But this is serious.” With her hands now on his arms, she held him a little tighter than intended. “We could be the last two people on earth.”

“Well you can relax, you’re crushing my arm. I’m still here, I’m not going anywhere.”

She let go, relaxing as he purposefully pulled her closer. “We’ve got to do something.”

“You’re right, we should get out there, we’ve got to at least try.”

She nodded and pulled away, slowly walking out the room and down into the hallway, grabbing the nearest pair of comfortable shoes. “Do you think there’s anyone else left? I mean, why us?”

“Why do you think?” Ian pointed to his face to indicate how neither of them had aged since they’d come home to earth all those years ago. “The TARDIS, the Doctor?”

“Do you think he’s here? On Earth, trying to help, or knowing him solve the mystery?”

He tossed her a coat and slipped his own on. “Maybe. I don’t know, but what I do know is that I can’t just sit here and not try and do something. That’s our friends and our family and I need to at least try to get them back, so will you do this with me?”

Barbara reached out to him, looking him in the eye. “I have for the last fifty years, haven’t I?” She smiled as he gripped her hand tightly. “Come on.” Opening the front door, she took a moment to peer outside and then pulled him after her out into the street.

* * *

“Alright, alright.” Dodo reluctantly pulled the covers off to slide out of bed, following her mewling pet downstairs. “Come on, Ruby, I thought we weren’t doing this anymore, we had a deal; I leave you food at night, you don’t wake me up.” Squinting in the light, she made her way to the cat’s bowl and peered down at it. Empty. “Oh, well I’ll let you off then, I suppose.”

Reaching for the container on the shelf, she poured some biscuits into the dish. “There you go.” She put the rest back, looked around for Ruby who was surely about to bury her head in the food. No such luck. She’d vanished. “Why do you always do this?! It’s a good job you’re so cute.” At least that meant she could go back to bed without being bothered.

* * *

“Go on, cheer up.” Polly beamed at her sailor, leaning towards him and reaching out to touch the corners of his mouth.

Of course Ben proceeded to smile, it was a reaction ingrained in his being after the very first time she’d sought to lift his mood. “Whenever you do that it makes me think of the first time we met.”

“And look who’s still grumpy.”

“Not me. Not with you here, looking at me like that. We never got our lunch date though.”

“No, well not that one, but I think we got something so much better through missing it, through you trusting me, knowing I wouldn’t stand you up. You saved me.”

“You saved me first, Duchess. Know me less than a day and overcome hypnosis, that no one else could, to protect me; that’s true love.” He beamed and then leant forward to softly press his lips to hers. “I’m fine, I promise.”

Slightly unconvinced, she kept watching him, sure there was something on his mind. But he always talked to her when it was important and she trusted that with a bit of care and affection those troubles would be forgotten and replaced with reminders of their life and love instead. The quiet music they had playing on the radio cut out as the device lost the signal and searched to find it again, but that wasn’t really important and held her attention for barely more than a second. Getting up from her seat, she walked round the corner of the table and cupped Ben’s face between her hands. “Since we’ve got the day off, how about we go back to bed for a bit?”

It showed on his face as every inch of his mind was drawn to focus solely on her. He nodded, standing and rewarding her faith with a kiss. “I love you, Pol.”

An immense sense of relief washed over her as she beamed, nodding back. “I love you too. Always.”

* * *

“Victoria Waterfield, will you listen to me?”

An unintentional smile formed on her lips at the way he said her name; she loved being Mrs McCrimmon, the name and everything that came with it, but she also loved that she was still Victoria Waterfield. Giggling slightly, she held her hand out to him. “What, Jamie?”

“Something’s wrong.” Expression serious, he gently took her hand.

Her face dropped. “What do you mean?”

“I mean everyone’s gone, I mean everyone’s disappeared, and I’m pretty sure that shouldnae have happened.”

“No.” She got to her feet to join him, purposefully tightening her grip on his fingers. “How is that even possible?”

“I dinnae ken, but surely it cannae be human, or if it is then it’s from the future.”

“Yes, and whichever it is, we need to do something. There aren’t many people like us out there in this time, that have seen what we’ve seen and done what we’ve done. If there are more people out there right now, even if they’re friends of the Doctor too, it might take all of us.”

Jamie nodded. “We’d better go outside and take a look. Are you with me?”

She laughed at the very fact he’d asked. “Of course! Honestly, Jamie!”

For a split second, he touched his lips to hers in thanks, then began to lead her out the house. When they reached the door, he stopped and turned to face his wife. “Whatever you do, do not let go.” He squeezed her hand to reaffirm that. “I dinnae what’s happened, but whatever’s going on, Victoria, if they’re gonna take you then they’re taking me too. They’ve gotta come through me.”

“Jamie.” She used her freehand to cup his face, lips pressing to his in a brief, soft kiss. “I’m here.”

He clutched her close, burying his face in her hair. “Aye. I dinnae what I’d do without you.”

“You’d make me proud.” She gave him a squeeze as she withdrew. “So have a little faith, we’ve made it through worse, together, we’ll work it out.”

* * *

238,855 miles away, on the surface of a grey satellite, a group of researchers was holed up on a base.

“Sir, it’s Doctor Shaw, we have an emergency.”

“Thank you, I’m already aware that we’ve lost contact with Earth.”

“But it’s worse than that,” Liz began to clarify, “I’m afraid Earth’s dead. There aren’t any signals coming from earth, and I don’t just mean to us or space stations or elsewhere in space. There’s no radio waves, no television, no internet, no mobile phones, nothing. It seems as though there’s no one down there anymore. The human race has vanished.”

“Thank you for letting me know. I need you and your team to look into this further. We need to know what’s going on, what’s happened, and if it applies, who or what is responsible.”

“I’m on it.” She put the phone down, reaching for the tablet computer on her desk.

“This is a code red situation. I repeat, this is a code red situation.” The announcement blared out across the ship. “All signals on Earth have ceased. Cause unknown. The human race needs our help.”

“You heard him, team, we’ve got to work out what’s going on and reverse it.” Liz tugged her computer keyboard closer again, hoping the solution wasn’t beyond their capabilities. “We could really do with the Doctor right now.”

* * *

Waking slowly, safe and warm in her husband’s arms, Jo opened one eye only to close it stubbornly when, as expected, she saw him watching. He smiled, expecting nothing less. “Hello.”

She smiled as a greeting. “Cliff, tell me it’s not eight yet.”

He laughed, and she felt it reverberate through his chest before he ran his thumb along her jaw. “Open your eyes and look at me.”

“Why?”

Patient, he gently repeated his request. “Please? Look at me?”

She did just that, no longer sleepy but concerned instead. “What?” she asked, taken in by the intensity of his gaze.

A soft smile formed on his lips. “I just wanted to look into those beautiful eyes of yours, see that you’re happy.”

A little breathless, she nodded, keeping her eyes on his. “I am. _So happy_.” He returned the gesture, and they lay in silence for a few seconds. “Are you going to answer my question then?”

Laughter filled his breath again. “Yeah. You’ve got about an hour, so yes you can go back to—”

His face vanished before her eyes, as did his chest from underneath her. The room fell silent in Cliff’s absence, and Jo gripped the bed sheet in disbelief at feeling it beneath her fingertips in place of his clothes. “Cliff?” She sat up, staring at the spot where he’d been. “Cliff.” She glanced behind her, hoping it was some incredible trick; it wouldn’t be the strangest thing she’d witnessed. But, just as she’d already known, he wasn’t there. “Cliff!”

It was weird, but she knew weird and she’d defeated weirder things than this. Only this time, she had nothing to go on, there was no UNIT, no Brigadier, and no Doctor.

Helpless and alone, Jo started to cry.

* * *

Harry looked out across the fields to find the area totally empty, the creatures that had so faultlessly been blocking his escape for months, years really he hesitated to admit to himself, were now nowhere in sight. Finally, the only thing left between him and freedom was the metal fence a few metres ahead, easily defeated by the set of wire cutters he’d acquired months ago. Five minutes passed and he remained crouched behind the ruin, waiting for them to return, thinking the situation too good to be true and surely a trap. But they were nowhere to be seen and he couldn’t hear them either, in fact he couldn’t see any hint of their presence. He dared to stand upright, wondering just where he should risk heading to, and pulled his compass out of his pocket. Far in the distance, he could just make out some woods, perfect cover should the creatures return, and the bearing on the compass told him it was south. South was just what he needed, eventually south would lead him back to London, to Sarah.

Unsettled and unnerved, Harry looked around once more to check he hadn’t been mistaken. It was weird, unnatural, and both his training and instincts told him it needed investigating. But his heart was telling him to run, to break through and go home, and see Sarah again. So he ran.

* * *

“When you said a day in England, I thought you meant a big city or a seaside town, somewhere with things to do. I didn’t think you meant this place; an average town in the middle of nowhere with nothing going on. There’s not even anyone about.”

Nyssa laughed, beaming at Adric as she stepped closer to him. “It is rather early in the morning, give it a chance. You can always go back to the TARDIS and have a lie in like Tegan.”

“No. I didn’t say I didn’t want to be here.” He made eye contact to make sure she knew that. Even if the place was boring, and it _was_ boring, he wasn’t going to abandon her in an unfamiliar place. Ultimately what was keeping him at her side was his heart’s deep desire to spend time with her, but if she’d pushed, he might just have admitted that he wanted to help keep her safe too. “I just wouldn’t have chosen here. If you wanted to just wander, we could have gone somewhere more scenic.”

“Adric, I just wanted to walk in the sun, in a peaceful place… with you. A couple of hours, please, then we can go to London, to the Science Museum. You’ll love it.”

He gently took her hand, soothing and assuring with his touch. “Not as much as I love seeing you smile, Nyssa. Being with you makes the most boring place wonderful.”

She beamed. “Come on then. Just a little bit and then we can get some food before the museum.”

* * *

“Stupid headache.” Tegan whispered to herself, popping a painkiller into her mouth and washing it down with a sip of iced tea. Giving up on the novel she’d only managed to get through one page of, she pushed it onto the windowsill and nestled further into the soft seat.

Looking out at that view wasn’t a bad alternative. The afternoon sunlight breaking through the trees to illuminate the garden, and beyond that, all the warm colours reflecting off the water. It was beautiful, and kind of soothing, or maybe that was the paracetamol starting to kick in.

Tucking a blanket round herself, she leant her head against the corner of the armchair. As she gazed out across the sea, she took a long draught of her drink, wondering how long it would take for a boat to sail into view.

* * *

Peri stepped out of the TARDIS, looking round at the empty streets they’d landed in. “That’s weird.”

“What is?” The Doctor followed her out the ship.

She stared incredulously at him. “This is New York City.” He still looked confused. “The city that never sleeps.”

“But there’s no one here.”

She laughed. “Well, exactly!”

He suddenly realised what she was saying. “Ah, I see your point. Well, we’d better investigate, hadn’t we, Peri?”

“I should hope so. These people need our help.”

“True. Let’s find out what happened to them.”

* * *

“I think these are my favourite walks.” Mel mused as she and Ace strolled into the park with their dog in tow.

“What? At the crack of dawn?”

With a smile sneaking onto her face, she shook her head. “I mean when we both take her; not rushing, nowhere to be but here, no one around demanding our attention or needing our help, just you and me and a little calm… except the hyperactive dog anyway.” She leant down to release the eager animal. “There you go, girl.” An Alsatian mix, Lottie had chosen them the second she’d laid eyes on them at the rescue centre, reflecting them both by looking intimidating but really being a fluffy ball of love.

“I haven’t been neglecting you, have I?”

“No, our lives have just been extra hectic lately, not that I would really change them. Although, don’t faint, but I do sometimes think about slowing down a little.”

“I wouldn’t say no to that. Maybe actually taking a proper weekend, both days.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.” Mel smiled up at her. “And I was thinking, how about I book us a holiday next month? Not just a weekend, or even a week; two whole weeks of sun and adventure and _us_.”

“That sounds…” she took in her partner’s excited face, “Absolutely amazing; almost as amazing as you are.”

Unable to resist, she leant a little closer to give her a gentle kiss. “I love you too. Besides, you’re not so bad yourself, you know?”

With a sly smile and shake of her head, Ace pulled her in for another. “You think Jake will take care of Lottie while we’re away?”

“Of course he will! One weekend with her and he wanted to adopt her himself.”

“True.” Laughter filled her breath for a moment, and then her gaze drifted away from her redhead’s pretty face. “Where’s she got to anyway? I don’t see her.”

Mel turned to survey the rest of the park herself. “Me neither. This isn’t like her at all.” She drew away, grabbing her partner’s hand to pull her towards where she last saw their dog. “We’d better go find her, make sure she’s okay.”

* * *

Jogging through the streets of San Francisco, Grace soaked up the wind flowing through her hair. Her hospital colleagues seemed to think she was mad for running before most shifts, especially shifts that meant that required such an early start, but she loved it. A gentle run always made her feel better, getting fresh air into her lungs helped her wake up, and the exercise got her blood pumping, invigorating her for the day ahead. She swore by it, not that it changed their opinions on the idea since they preferred the extra sleep.

Privileged enough to live in a pretty well-off district, she enjoyed watching how the city changed as night changed to day, or vice versa, different people living their lives, their schedules slightly out of sync. And then she would go to work to help people just like them.

With her shift due to start in an hour, she rounded the corner at the end of her street. It was always bustling, the sound comforting when she slept, and yet there it was stretching before her and not a single soul to be seen. She slowed, peering into the lobby of another apartment block, and then across at a branching street. Also empty. “Something’s wrong... It has to be. But what the hell am I supposed to do about it?!”

* * *

“Still here?” The barmaid offered Jack a sad smile as she began that day’s shift. He’d been her last punter the previous night, and since then she’d gone home, showered, eaten, slept, and then eaten some more. Ten whole hours and he was still sat on the same stool, but now her only customer.

“Flight postponed… nowhere else to be, no one to see, you know…”

“Actually, yeah, I do.” She nodded, surprised to see he wasn’t wasted, was barely even tipsy. “Same again?” She reached for the empty glass he was staring wistfully at. “Whisky? Double?”

“Erm, yeah… thanks.”

She poured his drink, gently pushed it towards him. “Life’s been hitting me too, hard.” Still undeterred by his downturned gaze, she leant against the bar. “But I try to tell myself that something amazing is still waiting for me. Not much help, I know, but if you need somebody to talk to, I promise you can talk to—”

His brow furrowing, Jack finally looked up at her, or as it turned out, at exactly where she had been. “Seriously?! Come on, universe!” Tossing back the rest of the glass, he pushed himself out of his seat. He might be on his own, but he was still Torchwood, and whatever wonder this kind woman was hoping for, he was going to make damn sure she could get there.

* * *

“Thanks.” Mickey took his change from the shop assistant and pocketed it, turning as he picked up the milk. He stopped as he noticed how empty the shop suddenly was, brow furrowing and frowning before he shrugged it off and headed for the door. He pulled the door open, thinking it strangely quiet and glanced back towards the counter. “Funny.” The shop assistant had gone, leaving him alone in the corner shop and he couldn’t hear a single piece of traffic outside.

Walking across the road he looked around him. The road had been busy just a few minutes earlier, even when it wasn’t quite 7am, but now it was deserted. There was a pram left on the path, no baby inside, cars parked at the side of the road but no people or moving vehicles anywhere. It was horribly silent, there were no background noises from the city, not even the ones you don’t notice until they’re gone. He turned on the spot once more, looking at the empty streets. “Martha.” He set off running down the street and round the corner back to their flat, pulling his keys out of his pocket as he dashed up the stairs. “Martha!” He hurriedly shoved the key in the door to open it. “Martha!” He made his way into the living room to find her stepping in from the direction of their bedroom, still in her pyjamas.

“Mickey?”

He ran towards her, crushing his lips against hers. “You’re here, you’re still here. Martha, you’re here.”

She lifted her hand to his cheek to make him look her in the eye. “Course, where would I have gone in five minutes? Mickey, talk to me, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “Everyone’s gone and I mean _everyone_. Just like teleported out of here, I took my change and turned round and they were all gone. There’s no one out there, no cars, no planes in the sky, nothing.”

“The radio cut out too, it’s just static.”

He stared at her, holding her tighter. “For a minute I thought I was the only one left; I just thought that you could have gone too but you’re here.” He leant his forehead against hers. “I’m so glad you’re here, I don’t know what I would have done if I was the only one, if they, and it must be aliens, had taken you too.”

She smiled. “Got me back I hope.”

He nodded with a smile, softly kissing her. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She pressed her lips back against his to help him relax. “Come on, we’d better go and see what’s going on. There’s gotta be something we can do.”

* * *

Donna gradually woke, reaching across to her husband’s side of the bed. It was empty but she wasn’t worried, it was about the time he usually got up for work and even when like today he had the day off he couldn’t break the habit and would head off to make a cup of tea before returning.

She rolled over and closed her eyes again, sighing with contentment. “Peace and quiet.” She was far too warm and comfortable to even consider getting up yet. An hour or two’s more sleep sounded wonderful and the unusual lack of traffic outside made it blissfully easy to fall back asleep. “I could get used to this.” She didn’t even notice the novel lying beside her on the bed, left behind when Shaun had disappeared just a minute before she’d woken.

* * *

Rani hammered her fist against Sarah Jane’s front door, stopping and stepping back to reach for the spare key as it opened. “My mum and dad have disappeared!”

“What?”

“I dunno, just _gone_ , and I think everyone else has too! There are doors left open down the street, a pram just abandoned, something’s happened.”

“But… Luke!” She grabbed her mobile phone out of her pocket and immediately started dialling. “Can’t get through, doesn’t even ring.”

“And what about Clyde!” Rani stared at her, eyes glistening.

“I’m sure he’s fine. Clyde’s tough.” She turned and made her way up the stairs, headed into the attic. “Mr Smith, I need you!” When nothing happened she glanced at Rani.

“Mr Smith, I need you!” Again there was no response and she turned to Sarah Jane. “He’s not there either. What the hell is going on?! Where’s Clyde?!”

“I don’t know, maybe he’s coming. I think we need to stop and take a minute to think about what we’re going to do.”

“Yeah.” Rani nodded, consciously calming herself down. “You’re right. We should go back downstairs.”

She opened the door and slowly began to walk down the stairs, struggling to push her concerns out of her head to think logically about what they could do. A few steps from the bottom she heard a knock at the door and peered through the glass, finding it not quite transparent enough to make anyone out. Hesitating a second, she carefully opened the door, preparing herself for a confrontation if it was needed. “Clyde!” She exhaled with relief, grin spreading across her face as she launched herself at him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“ _Rani_. You scared me! I went to yours and you weren’t there, I thought you’d gone too.”

Sarah Jane half smiled as she made her way down the rest of the stairs. “Glad you’re here, I just hope Luke’s okay.”

He squeezed his friend tighter then let her go. “Me too. What’s going on? My mum was right there and then she just disappeared.”

Rani raised her eyebrows. “You saw it happen?!”

“No, she was saying something and then she just suddenly stopped and I looked up and she was gone. And I searched the house and went outside, and I tried calling Luke. And you, of course I called you, I called you first.” Her expression softened. “I even tried the European 112, that’s supposed to last even if everything else goes down. Nothing though.”

“There’s no TV or radio either, no internet. Everything’s dead, I mean listen, _really_ listen.” They all held their breath and concentrated on their hearing. “Nothing. Not even the background noise of the city.”

Sarah Jane nodded. “Right, we should go into town. Maybe there’s someone else, maybe whatever did this is out there. Maybe we can fix this and bring everyone back.” She grabbed her coat and pulled it on, shoving her sonic lipstick into her pocket.

Clyde reached for Rani’s hand, lightly squeezing it and letting his touch linger before he nodded his head towards the door, ensuring she would match his pace as he took off after Sarah Jane.


	3. Chapter 3

“Martha, I just saw someone. Down there, just went up the road there. I’m sure of it.” Mickey held out his hand to point into the distance.

“Where?” She peered over his shoulder to try and catch a glimpse of this person but there was no movement.

“Come on.” Her hand still tightly in his own, he took off running down the road and she quickly followed.

They passed a few shops before she stopped dead, maintaining her grip on his hand to stop him. “Wait.” She pulled him back a few steps to the alleyway between to shops. “Sarah Jane?!”

The elder woman turned at the sound of her name, walking a few hesitant steps towards them. Clyde and Rani followed after, neither knowing who the strangers were but trusting her judgement as she increased her pace. “Martha? Mickey?”

The two of them ran towards her, Mickey immediately pulling her into a hug with one hand, still refusing to let go of Martha. “It’s so good to see you again, Sarah Jane.”

“You too, Mickey, and you, Martha, what are you doing here?”

“Same as you I imagine.” She took her turn to hug their friend. “To find out what’s going on and bring everyone back.”

Clyde stepped around Rani to stand at the side of the two women. “So you’re not gonna introduce us then or…?”

Sarah Jane let the younger woman go. “Clyde, Rani, this is Martha and Mickey, they’re friends with the Doctor.”

“Hi.”

“Nice to meet you.” Martha smiled.

“So did you travel in the TARDIS?” They both nodded. “What was that like? Go to any cool places? Meet any interesting aliens?”

Mickey nodded again. “Plenty, but is now really the time? How about we do this later _after_ we’ve sorted this out? Right now we need to focus on working out what the hell is going on around here.”

“Right, yeah, sorry.” Clyde’s expression became serious again.

“What do you know? Have you found anything, seen anyone, or anything?”

“Not really.” As Sarah Jane spoke they began to walk down the rest of the alleyway to the high street. “We were just making our way here to see if there was anyone else, then we bumped into you. What about you?”

“Mickey said he saw someone.”

“Yeah, up there.” He pointed up the road. “Just a glimpse, went round there. I didn’t see who or what age, might not have even been human.”

“Either way, sounds like exactly what we’re looking for.” Rani started running and the rest them followed, Clyde diverting his route to the left slightly.

“We can’t just keep running, we won’t catch them and we don’t know how long we have left.” He bent down to pick up a bike left lying half on the pavement.

“We can’t just take them!” Sarah Jane shook her head at him.

“We kind of need to, it’ll be fine, we’ll bring them back!”

Reluctantly she nodded and followed his lead with the rest of them, pulling her sonic lipstick out and directing it at the three bikes that were chained to the adjacent rack. “Quickly then.” Clyde and Rani quickly climbed onto the two unchained bikes, pausing to wait for the others to join them. “Go, try and find them, we’ll follow in a minute. Otherwise we meet in that café.” She pointed across the road.

“Okay.” Both teens answered in near unison and began pedalling.

* * *

“Where did they go?” Sarah Jane, Martha and Mickey stood holding their borrowed bikes up as they looked around the surrounding area for a sign of the teenagers. The bicycles Rani and Clyde had borrowed lay on the pavement in front of them and they couldn’t spot even a hint of which way they’d headed. “You don’t think they’ve gone too, do you?”

Mickey shook his head. “If they were going to disappear they would’ve when everyone else did. They’ve obviously found a lead of some kind. We should head back towards the café so we can meet back up with them, we might find something helpful on the way. Come on.” He lightly tugged on Martha’s hand and she smiled, squeezing his hand back to reassure him. Gradually he let go of her and the three of them climbed back onto their bikes and rode back the way they’d come to the high street. They dropped the bicycles off where they’d got them, slowly walking across to the café, both listening and looking out for a sign of whoever had caused so many people to disappear, or in fact any other humans.

Martha reached for Mickey’s hand again. “Don’t you think it’s weird that there are no abandoned cars in the middle of the road, or crashed? And shouldn’t planes be falling out of the sky right now? I mean why would you teleport the population of an entire planet away and be so careful about it?”

He flexed his fingers. “That’s assuming they were just teleported, we don’t even know that’s what happened.”

“But you were surrounded by people when it happened, and Clyde was right there with his mum, I know it could be alien technology that we’ve never encountered but what kind of weapon could destroy people like that, so completely without you feeling it?”

Sarah Jane opened the door to the café, stepping inside and holding it open for them. “And why are we still here? Why weren’t we taken with the rest of them?”

Mickey walked round the table to the far seat and sat down. “I think that much is obvious, the Doctor, he’s what we’ve all got in common.”

She sat opposite him. “But what does that mean kept us here?”

Martha joined them, taking the chair beside Mickey and resting her arms on the table. “And if we’re right, that means there are more of us out there; Jack for a start, and other companions he had before us two.” Her expression dropped slightly. “Donna. Poor Donna’s not gonna have a clue what’s going on. Maybe there’s someone out there fixing it right now ‘cause they’ve found whatever did this.” She looked to her side as her partner slipped his hand into hers.

She shrugged. “We can’t rely on that though. There’s got to be something we encountered, some part of space or an alien or _something_ that’s had a lasting effect of some description.”

“But what? And it’s got to be something Rani and Clyde have encountered too.”

“That’s good, that’s gotta narrow it down.” Martha turned her head as she heard the door open. “Ah, Rani, Clyde, just in time, when you met the Doctor, what did you encounter? What technology?”

Mickey leant backwards slightly, peering behind them at the boy that looked slightly younger than them. “Who’s that?”

“This is Gavin.” She coaxed him forward. “He was who you saw running away, Mickey.”

“Don’t look so scared.” Martha smiled. “We want to help, sort this all out. Can you tell us how much you know about aliens? Ever met one personally? Been friends with one?”

“No.” He screwed his face up slightly. “I’m just a normal kid, what are you talking about?”

She looked up at Rani. “Tell us, when you met the Doctor, what happened? Anything really different or weird that might have had an ongoing effect? And it’s gotta have happened to both of you. We’re trying to work out what links all of us, what could have kept us all here. ‘Cause the three of us travelled with him but…” Her jaw relaxed as her eyes widened.

“The TARDIS.” Clyde leant forward slightly.

“Yeah.” Rani nodded. “We’ve both been in the TARDIS, only a short trip back home but could it be that?”

Sarah Jane nodded. “Yeah, what’s that energy the Doctor said the TARDIS works on?”

“Something beginning with H I think.” Mickey lifted his hand to his face and narrowed his eyes in concentration. “I can’t remember, you’d think I would, Rose used to talk about it all the time!”

“Huon?” Martha suggested tentatively.

“Yes!” He pointed at her. “That must be what it is.”

Gavin shook his head slightly. “What _are_ you talking about?! You keep saying all these words that don’t make sense!”

Rani gently touched his shoulder. “No, it’s just stuff you don’t know about. It’s complicated.”

Mickey nodded. “Gavin, have you ever seen a big, blue, wooden police box? Ever been inside one?”

“What? No!”

“Then I wonder what kept you here.”

“Well I don’t know, do I?!”

He sat back in his seat to avoid intimidating him. “No, but that’s okay. We can find out what’s going on and put everything right.”

Martha looked down as she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and hurriedly pulled it out. “Mickey, look at this.” She placed the mobile on the table between them. “It just came up.”

“And it’s on mine.” Clyde put his own phone on the table as well as he and Rani stepped closer to them.

“Yeah.” Rani pointed passed him. “And on the TV.”

Martha leant into her partner, both peering at the screen on her mobile. “What do you think it is? Some alien message?”

“I dunno, looks more like numbers, equations, maths of some form.”

Sarah Jane looked up from the table. “Gavin have you ever seen anything like this before? You don’t understand it do you?”

* * *

Martha looked at Mickey. “Since you’re so good with computers, maybe you could try and translate that message. At least vaguely to see what it is more than guessing that it could be numbers.”

“It’s a good idea but I don’t think it’s even worth me trying to be honest. Even if I had access to a computer right here, none of them have got any of the software I’d need and there’s no internet to use any of UNIT’s systems or anything.”

“Yeah, you’re right; maybe you’d be better use out there with me looking for whatever sent this.”

“I’d prefer that anyway.” He nodded and stood, walking round to her other side and taking her hand as he coaxed her to join him. “Come on, let’s go.”

* * *

As the robot backed them towards the gate, Mickey pushed Martha behind him, grabbing her left hand with his. “I love you.” His breathing was getting heavier. “Oh my God this is too much of a déjà vu.” His mind went back to memories in a whole other universe, of scrambling over a similar fence to escape Cybermen and watching his parallel self get killed by one.

“I’m here.”

He gripped her hand tighter. “Martha, I’m sorry if I ever let you down.”

She squeezed his hand. “You’ve never let me down, Mickey. I love you too, we’ll go down together.” She stepped the slightest bit to her side and looped her arm around his as she looked over his shoulder at the approaching robot.

As it got almost within touching distance, she turned her head towards him so her face was hidden in his neck and he too turned towards her. “I love you.” He screwed his face up, waiting for the pain of the attack.

“Wait!”

Mickey opened his eyes, reaching to pull Martha back as she let go of him and moved in front. “ _Martha_ , don’t!”

“Wait!” She stared with astonishment as the robot stopped just in front of her. “Take me. You can take me, just please don’t hurt him.”

He reached out, curling an arm round her middle to try and pull her away from their pursuer. “No, you can’t!”

“I’m sorry.” She placed her hand over his but made no effort to move it and held her position. “I love you too much to not even try and protect you.” Martha flinched as a light emitted from its finger. A line of light ran up and down across her face as her chest heaved. “It’s… it’s scanning me. Oh, Mickey, it just wanted to scan us.”

* * *

Once the robots actually started communicating with them, it hadn’t taken long at all to figure out that they didn’t mean any harm. The earth’s population was safe, just cleared out of the way so they could find their royal heir. An heir who was still just a boy and didn’t even know that he was special, let alone that he was half alien and had a kingdom waiting for him.

As he embarked on his journey across the stars, they all knew what an incredible experience he was in for, that it would lead him to his calling and show him how remarkable he really was.

And just like that, Gavin and the robots were gone, but everyone else was back.


	4. Chapter 4

Returned home, Cliff was aware that as well as his arms suddenly being empty, his wife was huddled over at his side, shaking as she sobbed. He sat up, refusing to take his eyes off her. “Jo?” She didn’t hear, hardly moving, so he reached out to gently touch her shoulder. “Jo.” She turned, looking up at him, and stared with wide-eyed, overjoyed surprise. “Are you alright?”

“Cliff!” She threw herself into his arms, forcing him back onto the bed.

Confused, but happy nonetheless, he let his arms settle around her, giving her a squeeze. “It’s okay now. I love you.”

* * *

Harry jumped, feeling a little overwhelmed; he hadn’t seen so many people for such a long time and suddenly such a crowd were all bustling past him, constantly on the border of infringing on his personal space.

“Are you alright?” He spun round to find the source of the voice, a young woman with dark curls and eyes that sparkled with kindness. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you jump.”

“I think I’m alright. Could you point me in the direction of the station?”

“I can, but are you sure you don’t need my help?”

“Truth is, I’ve just escaped from being held captive, and I need to get to London. I need to get home to my beloved, look, here.” He pushed his hand into the inside pocket of his jacket and showed her a dog-eared photo.

“She’s beautiful.”

“Yes. And she probably thinks I’m dead, so if you could spare some change towards a ticket it would be greatly appreciated.”

She smiled, touched by his brief story. “Come with me.” She led him a few more metres down the road and then took him round the corner. Crossing the road, they walked into the station, and using one of the machines she bought him a ticket. The young woman pressed the orange card into his hand, smiling up at him. “Go on. Get home to her. She’s very lucky.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

She beamed back and then her attention was drawn away from him. “Adric! What took you so long?!” She gestured for him to come over to them quicker. Seeing the unopened sandwich and bottle of juice in his hands, she gently took them off him and handed them to Harry. “You look like you could do with them. Now run before you miss the next train.”

He nodded, then set off at a jogging pace towards the gates. Adric frowned at Nyssa. “I wanted to eat those.”

She laughed, her voice full of affection. “But he needed them more.” She knew he’d want to know more, and probably tell her the man’s story was illogical, but even though she knew the chances of it being true were slim, she believed him; she trusted the look on his face when he spoke of his beloved. “Oh, Adric, I’m sorry.” She linked her arm with his, and began to lead him out of the station. “I’ll buy us breakfast to make it up to you.”

* * *

Sarah Jane exhaled with relief as she heard her son’s voice at the other end of the phone. “Hi, Mum.”

“Oh, Luke, you’re alright. You are alright?”

“Yeah, fine, K9 too. How’s everything there? Are you all okay?”

“Yes we’re just fine, got everything sorted out just in time. Are you sure you’re alright? It must have been quite a shock to find yourself alone.”

“But I wasn’t totally alone, I had K9. Mum, don’t worry about me, I’m alright. But are you? You sound really worried.”

“Yeah I am, I just can’t help worrying.”

There was a pause and she knew he understood. “Mum, it’s just you and me, tell me why you’re so worried.”

“It seems like the reason we were left behind was because we’ve been in the TARDIS. I couldn’t stop thinking about Harry. I worry about him as it is. If he’s out there, I just hope that wherever he might be, he’s okay. Maybe this will have helped him.”

“I’m sure _Dad_ ’s just fine.”

She smiled. That name alone was enough to calm her. She was infinitely grateful for his acceptance; Luke had never met the man, but he trusted her judgement and her heart. He supported her wholeheartedly. “Thank you. I miss you.”

“I miss you too.”

Ideally, she wanted to talk to him for hours, all the worrying making her desperate to talk in depth of her wonderful human doctor, but Luke had lectures to go to and she had friends upstairs, it would have to wait. “I should go, lots of people here. But I’ll call you this evening, alright? Do you think I can have an hour or two?”

“I’m not going out tonight, and lectures finish at 4, you’ve got the whole evening. I love you, Mum.”

“Oh, I love you too. Bye.”

“Bye.” She waited for him to put the phone down, the smile stuck on her face as she clutched the phone in both hands. Her life may have been hard at times, incredibly hard, but she could certainly name a few things that made her very, very lucky.

* * *

“Mr Smith's fixed the official records. Gavin's moved to Australia.” Up in the attic now, Sarah Jane turned back to her friends as the wall closed behind her, making her way over to the computer to sit down.

Clyde smiled. “I reckon the aunt and uncle will be glad to see the back of him.”

Dropped onto the empty sofa, Rani looked round at them. “Yeah, he was happy getting away from them.”

Martha smiled, glancing at her husband who gave her a squeeze as they watched the pair of them. “You two, you’re brilliant.”

“So brilliant,” Sarah Jane agreed. “You found Gavin, got him to trust you, worked out what they wanted, where he’d gone, why they couldn’t see him. Well, you worked it out all by yourselves.”

Rani suppressed a smile of her own at the praise from her mentor. “Only because you showed us how to. You like trained us.”

“Yeah, you’re the commander,” Clyde added. “We’re just the space cadets.” Both teenagers help their hands up in mock salute, and as they shared a little laugh, he joined her on the sofa.

A little tension crossed the elder woman’s brow. “Yeah, well, no I’m not sure I like that.”

Nonetheless, Clyde was undeterred. “If we’d never met you, we’d have been stuffed.”

Sarah Jane shook her head a little. “If you’d never met me, you wouldn’t have met the Doctor either, or been in the TARDIS. You wouldn’t have been in danger in the first place.”

Rani could hardly believe what she was hearing. “Sarah Jane, you’re like the best thing that ever happened to us!”

“ _Yeah_ ,” enthused Clyde. “When I was a kid, I thought I’d never do anything, end up nowhere, just dossing about, I never saw all of this coming.”

That certainly pulled at her heart. “Yeah, but one day, if it all stops, I don’t want you ending up alone like I used to be.”

Trying to distract her from that memory, Rani offered her a small smile. “Hey, after today I can tell you straight, you had no idea what it’s really like to be alone.”

“Fair point.”   
  
“Yeah,” Martha sighed wistfully. “Really being alone, that’s… that’s something else.”

At that, Mickey drew her closer to kiss her shoulder. “You’ve got me now. You’ll never be alone.”

A tilt of her head brought it to rest against his, and for just a moment, she enjoyed the gentle reminder of all they had found in each other.

Disrupting the silence, Sarah Jane rose from her seat with purpose. “Right, I’m getting pizza menus. Reward for saving the human race.” Then as she made her way across to the door, she glanced back at them. “On me.”

With her gone, and the couple quiet and rather wrapped up in each other, Clyde found his thoughts drifting back to Sarah Jane’s comment. “We’re not alone though, are we?”

“No.” Rani promised, drawing his gaze round to her before she in turn looked back. They both smiled, everything suddenly softer. “We’ve got each other.” Soaking up his eyes on hers, she slipped Gavin’s bio-damper ring off her finger. “Not a bad morning’s work, my lord,” she teased, holding it out for him to gladly take.

“Indeed, my ladyship. Score one up for the hangers on.” High-fiving, the two teenagers laughed, thrilled by such a big victory being won together.


End file.
